The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1887-01-07
TERRIBLE STORY.
particulars OF the Burning of the Steamer
Bradish JOhnsOn-1Iany Lives Lost-A
Fatal Snow storm In Germany.

Particulars OF the Burning of the Steamer
Bradlsh Johnson-,Iany Lives Lost-A
Fatal snow storm In Germany.
MOBILE, Ala, Dec. 2l.-News was re-
ceived here Wednesday night OF the burn
| ing of the steamer Bradish johnson on the.
Bigbee river. eleven miles above Mobile,
, but as there is no telegraph line to that.
| point no particulars could be obtained until
now.
A. C. Yeall, one of the bosses, gave the
| following description Of the fire: Il had
| Just gone to bed when l heard the e-y of
| fire. l got into my pants and seized my
other effects and rushed out OF the cabin.
| There had been party of men out there
| playing cards and they had seen the smoke
| rising. When i came into the cabin
the fire seemed to be in the state
room aft Of the pantry on the port side.
and the men who had been playing cards
| were standing there at the door looking in
at the fire. They seemed as if they were
| dazed and did not know what 70 do. They
had shouted fire but there they stood
| staring at it. / cried, For Gods sake,
what are you standing there for. Wake
| the men up and let US get out of here.
''There was all old man. en- Alabamian. in
| the room next to mine. | don't know his
name. He was asleep when went to the
| Ucu 4pI Hill VI UtlueF
got him awake or not don't know. ham
mered and pounded away with all my
might. You see, the smoke was already
filing the cabin and the men were running
around like mad, hardly know what hap
pened. ! ran forward through the cabin.
| and my eyes ard mouth got so full of smoke
| that | did not know where / was going.
| The negroes were mostly on the lower deck.
| They all came running forward about the
| same time we did. The vessel burned very
| fast and was q solid mass of flames in
| a moment. When l had reached the
| bank / turned around and saw the plot
house and texas fall III with the negroes. !
| They fed up the bank in a mob and rushed
to the woods, where they huddled like
| sheep and could not be persuaded to come
down to the boat. They knew that some
of their number were lost in the burning
boat and they were seemingly superstitious
about it. They did not want to go near the
place. So the boat became mass of flames
and burned for about half an hour, when
! she sank. As soon as / got ashore there
was a report that there were men in
the water. Skiffs were manned and
sent to their rescue. They picked up Mr..
DAILY, one of the Carson men. William
! Neal. an Englishman in one of the skiffs,
! Edu tNO Uuo bhSy SeAhn
out of sight William Downing, the cook,
who received slight burns on the
face and hands, found a white man
lying in stateroom doorway. Dan
| Hillhouse came up. and the two
dragged the man, supposed to be McElroy,
out on the boiler deck. The man was I'M
| conscious from the effects of the smoke.
just then the flames burst out up the side,
and down they jumped over the railing to
! save their lives. Hillhouse, however, said
he heard a man groaning just outside the
| cabin and he went back to rescue this man.
He never came out again and he was not
seen alive after that, and it is believed that
! he was sacrificed in the noble attempt to
save another mans life. There is no telling
| lust how many lost their lives in the fire.
/ Some say that ten others are missing. But
| all that know are the two negroes, Lewis
| Adams and Benjamin Bush, who Were
drowned, and two white men, missing.
think two other white men were burned
with the boat. and there must have been
others, for don't think they had chance.
| to be awakened and then escape, for it was
all 1 could do with the smartest kind
| of running to get out alive. Had tho
| fire broken out one hour later, when
all the men would have been in bed, none Of
US would have escaped. As to the origin Of
the fire know nothing. The cook says the
| boys told him before he went to sleep that
the fires in the galley were all out and every
| thing safe.'
| The Bradish johnson was built in the
West for the Louisiana lower coast trade,
| that is, from New Orleans down to the
passes of the Mississippi. Captain j. Stone
brought her here and ran her Oh the Ala
/ bama and its tributaries for several years
until she was sold at marshafs SALE
| TWO HUNDRED LIVES LOST.
| BERLIN. Dec 31.-The removal Of the snow
which fell in the late storm has revealed an
appalling loss of life. Many travellers were
overtaken by the storm. Fifty bodies have
been found in Saxony, thirty in Thuringia
and forty in Southern Germany. 1t is esti-
mated that the total loss of life will be zoo